After The Tricycle Way was published, I still had to practice what I had written. I knew the work was not finished. But now other people could read the ideas and see whether I was living by them.
The book grew from my own imbalance. I had pursued success while neglecting my family and health. The image of a wobbly unicycle described what that felt like to me. Success needed the support of satisfaction and smiles. Those ideas came from what I was trying to understand and repair in my life.
The ordinary choices remained
After publication, the same choices kept returning. A phone would ring, a client would need attention, the business would be under pressure and my family would be waiting. Knowing the ideas did not remove the need to decide how I would act.
If I was absent at home or pursued work in a way that damaged a connection, I could recognize the pattern more clearly. I could no longer explain it only by saying that I had not understood the cost.
I still get things wrong. The book did not remove the habits that led me to write it. It gave me a way to notice them sooner and try to correct them before continuing in the same direction.
Keep the ideas connected to life
I do not want the book’s ideas to become words I can discuss well while leaving my conduct unchanged. Success, satisfaction and smiles remind me to consider more than what I achieve. They also ask me to consider the relationships and everyday experience surrounding that achievement.
That is still my work to do. Writing the book made the ideas available to other people, but the responsibility for applying them in my own life remains with me.
I can start with something I have advised another person to do. Am I doing it myself? If not, what can I change today?